The Broken Circle Book 2: Consequences
by BlackBerry55
Summary: An AU to the TLK series, diverging at the point where Scar's Lion Guard was supposedly 'murdered'. Instead of Kilio falling with the rest of his team, he instead escaped back to his birth Pride, and rallied them completely to Scar's cause. Now with both Kumari and Kilio encouraging him, Scar decided to go the brute force route in seizing the crown. Read and Review


Mufasa's vision swam as he limped through the savannah. The rain washed his wounds, leaving a trail of blood. The ground beneath his clawed paws seemed to disobey his intent, shaking violently with every step he took. But he continued to drag himself forward. His only thought was to run, to get away. He never thought he'd be betrayed this way; he never thought that his adopted brothers would turn on him like they had. He had always taken Scar for a schemer and a controller, and Kumari usually went right along with anything Scar suggested.

An outright rebellion, through brute force and simple cunning, was something Mufasa had thought would be beneath Scar. Yet, here the defeated ex-King was, limping as fast as he could to safety.

Mufasa's limbs burned with every step he took. He wasn't sure if he still had everything, but all that mattered was that he got out of the Pridelands. To get away from his adopted brothers, to get away from the Kingdom his adopted mother gave him, to escape his past and his mistakes. The rain washed his wounds; the scratches and bites of from the rebel lions and marauding hyenas. In his pain and suffering, Mufasa had enough clarity to choose the shortest, less guarded way out of the Pridelands.

As he almost mindlessly went west, Mufasa wondered why it was so hard for him to just accept death, even now. A part of him knew exactly how this would all end; his biological father had perhaps been trying this entire time to steer him from this path. But neither he nor Uru wanted anything to do with it. Just like his adopted mother, Mufasa was just too stubborn to acknowledge whatever displeased him. Whether it was his lack of relation to a crown, or even that the trueborn princes were discontent with his ambition and attitude, the battered ex-king refused to spare a thought for anything he considered undesirable. And right now, that undesirable thing was death

The rain eventually became too intense, and mud trapped his paws, slowing down the arduous trek to the least dangerous situation. It was time. As soon as Mufasa spotted an alcove in a cliffside, he dragged himself into it. The cavern was almost comically cramped compared to the Royal Den, but in a twist of cruel irony it was as warm and intimate as a lioness' insides. With that thought in his mind, Mufasa collapsed, all 500 pounds of his battered body sending a loud thud through the cave.

_Look at this! _Mufasa thought as he closed his eyes. His breathing became shaky, but the thoughts didn't cease. _They actually did it! They killed my mother! My father! Took everything away from me! And Sarabi… They took her too… _Mufasa knew the truth, but his consciousness finally drifted away.

It was as gentle as falling asleep, for everything was finally over.

**The Next Morning**

Scar almost felt as though the world was in a dream-like state; it didnt help that not one animal at Pride Rock had slept at all. As the former Fiercest looked to the morning sky, he could make out the proud faces of the Spirits. Especially prominent was Ahadi's approving look, for his blood sons had finally seized what had rightfully belonged to them. However, as Scar felt the tingle on his shoulder where the lionhead mark had been ripped away, he was reminded that this victory had come at great cost.

Kumari was wrong. Yes, the rebellion was swift, but it was by no means a painless affair. Scar had challenged Mufasa outright as Kumari suggested, just as the adopted son had done to Ahadi at Uru's behest. And just as it was with Ahadi, Uru had other plans for the crown and the false son. Unfortunately, the assassin was nowhere to be found on this day; just Mufasa's loyalists and the willpower and defiance they could bring forth.

Of course, against the might of Kilio's Pride and Shenzi's clan, the results were inevitable. The battle raged well-through the night, and eventually Scar did the unthinkable: he unleashed the Roar of the Elders upon Mufasa. Perhaps it was the guilt of not being there until it was too late; maybe it was some unknown obligation that only he could explain. Whatever it was, Munin had felt it necessary to take the blast of power for his son. Sure, the blast still knocked Mufasa and Uru both clear off of Pride Rock, but Mufasa had survived the fall.

Only for him to realize that he had fallen right into the mauling, surrounding jaws of leonine death. As the rain fully cleared, and the Spirits became more and more visible with the sunrise, the bittersweetness of this victory reared its ugly head. Scar and Kumari surveyed the bodies brought before them; two lionesses, and one lion. Rather, the lionesses were set in front of the battered, broken body of the lion who had taken Mufasa's consequences in his place.

The Spirits wore somber expressions, to match the mood of Pride Rock. Even the hyenas comprehended the gravity of the situation, but neither Scar nor Kumari could understand why they felt sadness for their fallen mother. Perhaps the love a lion has for his mother was truly that strong, but even then both princes couldnt help but feel the sting of loss over and above all the abuse she had heaped upon them, in favor of a lion who was not even related to her.

Kumari could eventually no longer so much as look at Uru, her neck jerked and twisted at an odd angle. If the fall didn't kill her, her favored adopted son unwittingly using her as a cushion almost certainly snapped her neck. Perhaps she had gotten off easy, considering the ensuing mauling that Mufasa had to bear the brunt of.

As for the other lioness, she was covered in bite marks, but she was otherwise very much alive, her pregnant belly untouched despite her thrashing and raging resistance. Kumari growled, baring his teeth as he stepped forward. The white-furred, black-maned, emerald-eyed lion was perhaps an unnatural sight to behold, but it was intimidating nonetheless. Any other lioness would have cowered away from him, and perhaps part of the reason this one in particular didnt was because she was surrounded on all sides. Hyenas on one side, enemy lions on the other; any fighting she was going to do should have been done last night. But right now, Scar stepped forward, calling his younger twin brother back and addressing Mufasa's mate with one word.

"Sarabi".

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**AN**:

This chapter is but a preview of what's to come. I haven't abandoned the plot line, and neither has my brother. We just wanted to retcon and tweak a few things, as well as delve into what would have happened in our alternate universe. In this case, what if a member of Scar's Lion Guard had lived to tell the truth of the situation. Yep, spoilers for how the new version of my first story is going to end.


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